Samsung is locked in a bitter patent dispute with Apple that requires the company to remove locally-stored data from its search widget on Android devices. The trouble is that the removal was only supposed to take place in the United States – where Samsung was found to infringe on Apple’s patent, not the entire world – but somehow extended to the international version of the Galaxy S III.

Samsung quickly realized that the removal of local search was a mistake and announced that it would restore the feature within a few days. The restoration has already started in the United Kingdom with an over the air update that is restoring service now. The OTA is 5 MB and already heading to unlocked users. Devices tied to carriers should also be updated, but there’s no official word when users outside the UK can expect an update.

The new OTA is an easy fix to once again make it possible to search the web, contacts, and local files from the same search widget. The Android search widget has made that a standard feature for quite some time, but Apple successfully asserted patent rights in a U.S. court, which forced Samsung to remove it from several phones in order to avoid a sales ban or further litigation. It was originally believed that Samsung meant to do the same thing for international versions, but the company confirmed yesterday to TechRadar that was never the intention.

Now users can at least enjoy this feature until Apple’s lawyers come knocking once again.